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UPDATE, JULY 5:
I had a 17-minute chat with Germany’s DW News on Sunday morning, contrasting celebrations of America 250 with Donald Trump’s bitter, divisive speech.
Before dealing with Trump, I emphasize the possibility that came out of gatherings across the US with unity rather than division.
Then I highlight the challenge posed by Trump, as he hijacked the celebration to assail his “enemies”, falsely claim a rigged election in 2020, and make up a threat by “Communists”.
Echoing Joseph Welch’s iconic putdown of Sen. Joe McCarthy to end the “Red Scare” in 1954, I ask, “Have you no decency, Donald?”
UPDATE 1149 GMT:
I spoke with Henry Bonsu on Times Radio on Friday night about both the challenges and the possibilites of America 250.
Listen from 1:37.15
While noting the destruction of the current regime in the White House, I emphasized that “America” is far more than this: it is the communities across the country which will have genuine celebrations today.
I note that while the US has been a flawed experiment, with the breaking of native Americans and slavery of Black Americans, it has offered a better way of life for many who came to the country — those who, ironically, would be barred from entry by the current Administration.
The US is at a critical point but I hold to the hope that good Americans can make it to the other side of the crisis.
The other guest is Trumpist activist and former RT America presenter Scottie Nell Hughes.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: I joined a Byline Times panel on Friday to assess the 250th anniversary of US independence.
We look at past and present, from politics to culture to today’s wannabe authoritarianism, to ask if America is still the “city on a hill” that John Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony declared in 1630.
The other panellists are Byline Times executive editor Peter Jukes; Alexandra Hall Hall, a former British diplomat who is now a US citizen; and journalist Heidi Siegmund Cuda. The host is Adrian Goldberg.
